diff -ur gpgme.org/configure.ac gpgme/configure.ac
--- configure.ac	2017-02-16 15:18:45.051417378 +0100
+++ configure.ac~	2017-02-16 15:20:03.635059285 +0100
@@ -38,6 +38,11 @@
 # the decimalized short revision number, a beta version string and a
 # flag indicating a development version (mym4_isbeta).  Note that the
 # m4 processing is done by autoconf and not during the configure run.
+m4_define([m4_chomp_all],
+[m4_format([[%.*s]], m4_bregexp(m4_translit([[$1]], [
+/], [/ ]), [/*$]), [$1])])
+
+m4_define([m4_esyscmd_s], [m4_chomp_all(m4_esyscmd([$1]))])
 m4_define([mym4_verslist], m4_split(m4_esyscmd([./autogen.sh --find-version] \
                            mym4_package mym4_major mym4_minor mym4_micro),[:]))
 m4_define([mym4_isbeta],       m4_argn(2, mym4_verslist))
@@ -98,7 +103,22 @@
 AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4])
 AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([src/gpgme.h.in])
 AC_CONFIG_HEADERS([conf/config.h])
-AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([serial-tests dist-bzip2 no-dist-gzip])
+
+dnl Initialize automake.  automake < 1.12 didn't have serial-tests and
+dnl gives an error if it sees this, but for automake >= 1.13
+dnl serial-tests is required so we have to include it.  Solution is to
+dnl test for the version of automake (by running an external command)
+dnl and provide it if necessary.  Note we have to do this entirely using
+dnl m4 macros since automake queries this macro by running
+dnl 'autoconf --trace ...'.
+m4_define([serial_tests], [
+    m4_esyscmd([automake --version |
+                head -1 |
+                awk '{split ($NF,a,"."); if (a[1] == 1 && a[2] >= 12) { print "serial-tests" }}'
+    ])
+])
+AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE(foreign serial_tests dist-bzip2 no-dist-gzip) dnl NB: Do not [quote] this parameter.
+
 AM_MAINTAINER_MODE
 AC_CANONICAL_HOST
 AM_SILENT_RULES